winter bones, spring step
by gakurans
Summary: on a sunny afternoon Uni remembers but wishes she hadn't—- uni/gamma, gamma/aria


five - nine

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In the traditional sense, she isn't dressed like the princess she's supposed to depict—a white summer dress, one that ends at the knees in lace, is her dress of choice. She knows that originally, Gamma would protest, begging with his almond brown eyes, silently beseeching with knotted eyebrows that she at least change to another color because frankly it's hard to get stains out of white. But in a rare moment of stubbornness, she would protest, silently and smiling, until two seconds later he would give in.

(_It's tea time, Gamma, I won't get dirty, I swear.)_

The scene plays out exactly as Uni imagines it, once she steps out of her room. Gamma is outside her door, greeting her with a smile, before actually taking notice. Save for the fact that Gamma doesn't even take two seconds to relent, it is a predicted déjà vu.

He takes her hand and leads her down the silent, silent hallways of the base, the mansion, her home. Light falls through the windows, and as she passes by, she takes an unneeded peak inside each of the rooms: Every room is hopelessly imprinted in her mind, yet a small part of her, the part still convinced she is ' just a child ', wishes, begs, hopes for something new. Something new in the way the dust motes dance in the stream of light, something new in the way her subordinates smile at her like glass masks, something new in the way Gamma just gently stops whenever she halts at each door, relentlessly searching for even a ghost of something that never was.

That is part of the reason she arranges the tea–parties: she, (Luce and Aria and Uni; grandmother and mother and granddaughter) has no memory of such thing. So she suggests the idea one winter day because she (just Uni) is excited to have something new, something refreshing, something her own.

The tea parties have no schedule and are always announced on a whim. There is no set menu, just a single word signaling what she wants, and always a surprise. There is no dress code really, but Uni finds she has a fondness for summer dresses and Gamma is always wearing his suits.

This afternoon is no different.

It's out the door, down the hall, and out of the castle–the princess in the garden, with her noble knight at her side.

There is a special place in the garden; She (Aria and Uni ; mother and daughter) knows it is special because there are memories that pass before her eyes and cause twinges in her heart every time she thinks of it. They (Gamma and Aria; no Uni involved) built it together, Aria claiming that Gamma needed a break from the mafia lest it break him. They built it themselves, clipping away a segment of the garden's center themselves, drawing out the building plan themselves, laughing and shedding tears and grunting out frustrations as the small, almost bell-like, gazebo was raised on the earth, something they accomplished all by themselves.

A small part of Uni ("You're just a child!" it screams) feels uncharacteristic jealously towards the gazebo and the feeling and memories it's built on—she finds jealously whenever she approaches the structure, painted pure white and intertwined with honeysuckles and clematises and climbing roses, tended with care by bees and butterflies and the occasional _terrifying _dragonfly.

(Personally, she finds it silly, her own envy, as it is against both herself and someone else, a concept that she herself—Luce and Aria, included—cannot understand.)

Nevertheless, Uni still loves the gazebo and refuses to attend her tea party anywhere else. Gamma previously suggested a window room or the attic— both and all following suggestions, were ignored.

They make their way into the gazebo, hand-in-hand, Gamma pulling her chair out for her despite Uni's plea that during tea-time, he must forsake the formalities.

Already set out, are the deserts, shielded from the prying needle-like mouths of insects. Uni bounces in her seat, as Gamma lifts the shields and uncovers the pastries underneath. Today's theme is _orange _and as usual, Uni finds herself delighted with the masterpieces concocted.

There are plates upon plates of cake, brownies, bars and gelatin, all topped with light frosting and creams or drizzled with sauce. Gamma waits patiently as Uni meticulously decides on her first treat.

Reaching for the orange sherbet she's surprised when Gamma doesn't protest: the creamy desert had already begun to melt yet he isn't up in arms. Uni waits almost anxiously for Gamma to comment on the likeliness of the the syrup sticking to her fingers or falling onto her dress, yet he makes none, instead taking a scoop himself.

Catching her surprised expression Gamma flashes a playful expression so out of place in the mafia world, their world rather, that on impulse, she stuffs a spoonful of sherbet into her mouth in an attempt to quail the butterflies.

She sees it much as she sees all of her memories (Or rather, is it their memories?—Luce's and Aria's and hers...she doesn't quite know.) in the interval between white flashes.

Gamma smiling as he playfully lifts a spoon and places it's contents in her—no Aria, always Aria's—mouth. He smiles in a light-hearted way, in a way that is unfamiliar to Uni as it's a look that isn't reserved for her, only for her mother, and she finds that once again she is jealous. Of what? Herself? It's irresponsibly silly, the feelings that contort in her chest but she can't help it, she is just a child after all right? Despite all the lives shes's lived, she's still just a child...

She snaps out of her reverie only at the sound of Gamma's voice. His image is blurred at first, only cleared when the tear rolls down her cheek. There are more tears, far more that hang on her chin before falling onto her lap.

(She's broken her promise and the dress is now dirty, it seems)

"I...I..." The words barely fall and yet he's holding her, holding her tight, so tight, too tight, her dress is rumbling and a strap bites into her shoulder. She's seen it, and he knows she has, he didn't think it would happen but it did...

(_Everything she wants, Aria has already had._)

He holds her like she's going to float away, like his last trace of Aria is going to disappear, with leaving nothing but a lightly dressed little girl.

(—the realization pains her, just her, striking her in her chest and sliding into her lungs—)

(Aria and Luce look on disapprovingly.)

* * *

**a/n;** *laughs nervously* h-hi guyss

(i was like three seconds away from naming this desserts are srs bizness)

(okay, maybe like three minutes, but the point still stands)

i actually really don't like this piece but i realized i don't like anything i write so im going to put this up here anyway /defiant pout

views, faves, watches, reviews, everything is appreciated i love you guys so much


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